Highway wind energy conversion with a savonius-darrieus hybrid turbine

The need for electrical energy for applications such as self-powered traffic signals, highway lights, and battery charging of electric vehicles has led to ongoing efforts to develop specially designed turbines that can efficiently convert wind energy generated by vehicles traveling on highways into electricity. In this study, a new hybrid vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) is designed by combining three-bladed Savonius and two-bladed Darrieus turbines on a vertical axis. This newly designed double VAWT was manufactured, and the power outputs at a wind speed of 5 m/s obtained experimentally were compared with the results of Savonius and Darrieus turbines. The energy production of the double VAWT design using wind generated by various vehicles on highways, including cars, minibuses, mini trucks, buses, and trucks, has been evaluated. The optimum positioning of the turbine on highways that provides the highest power output with a double VAWT was determined. All calculations are based on measured voltage and current values at the generator connected to the turbine. The results show that the newly proposed double VAWT design achieves the best performance with a maximum CP value of 0.223. Furthermore, the optimal horizontal and vertical positioning of the turbine with respect to the roadside of highways was determined. The maximum speed recorded at the turbine was 3.7 m/s, obtained with a truck. The best power output of the turbine was obtained from trucks among the five vehicles mentioned. It has been estimated that the hybrid wind turbine designed, produced, and tested in this study can generate approximately 35 kWh of electricity per year on a highway with heavy vehicle traffic.